Frequently Asked Questions
Our Frequently Asked Questions page answers the most common questions about our modular homes. Do you want to build a modular home in California? Most of your questions will be answered here. If your question is not on the list, please contact us.
Once I have my lot and financing, how long does it take to build a modular home?
Building a modular home will take approximately half of the construction time of conventional construction. Because the modular home is built in the factory concurrently with the grading and construction of the foundation the overall construction schedule is sped up tremendously.
Prior to the building of a home, there is a process to prepare property-specific construction plans. After that, the permitting process takes over and the timeline is based upon their schedule and the number of revisions they require to the plans. The plan preparation and permitting process is a multi-month process that is done before you break ground on your property. Building a site-built home requires these same types of timelines for plans and permits though sometimes our process is faster.
Really though, it is the actual building of the home that is faster.
What areas do you service?
We service the entire state of California as a supplier of modular homes.
We are interested in contributing our skill set for multi-unit projects in California or other states. Please contact our office by phone to discuss the options at 877-280-6496
If Cutting Edge builds all over California how can you serve me in my community?
We are confident that we can compete with any local retailer of modular homes on price, and our services are more thorough and customized than our other state-wide competition in California. As they say down south, we didn’t just fall off the turnip truck. We have been doing this for twelve years and we have a complete project system in place. Most of the work that we do is done by email, telephone, and fax, so location is not that important except when we do our initial route survey at your lot and when we deliver the home. We work with local general contractors that manage your project on-site who will be close and handling the critical on-site issues. In areas where we do not have an available general contractor, we can help you find, train, and work with a new local contractor to do the on-site work.
Our fourteen years of experience building in California’s difficult building code and legal environment is proof that we will stand by our clients from the start to finish of their projects. We didn’t copy anyone else’s way of serving clients – we designed it from the ground up for our clients in California based on the challenges that they face living and working here. Our first home was built as our founder’s family home, and we take building homes for families in California seriously. We work under an “Open-Source” philosophy painted with a healthy dose of realistic thinking, providing free, fair, and as complete of information as we have available. We work hard every moment to ensure that our client gets the best home and skilled work at the lowest possible price. We fully disclose all the information we have about ourselves, the industry, the laws and regulations, and our competition because we are confident you will choose us when you have all of the facts.
What is your experience and certification to be selling these homes?
Cutting Edge Homes Inc. was founded in California in 2004 when our principals were looking for a more affordable way to build residential homes. After several years previous years of developing for sale projects, we wanted to speed up the construction process and reduce unknowns without sacrificing quality. We began as one of several companies focused on the regional distribution of modular homes throughout California, with a focus on the more custom buyer. To our knowledge, we are the only one of those companies that survived the economic downturn and we are thriving today. We have a market coverage area from the Mexican border to Oregon, and from the Pacific to the Sierra Nevada Mountains. We have built houses with Border Patrol helicopters flying over constantly in eastern San Diego County, and others in a Redwood Forest that was closer to Oregon than the next town south in California. In 2012 we completed an ocean front villa in Marin County facing Point Reyes Peninsula, a Silicon Valley infill project, a Cape Cod style cottage on a Napa Valley vineyard, a ranch home on an Almond farm in the Central Valley, and a multi-unit development by the beach in Santa Cruz (among other projects). In 2014 we delivered two complete homes and assembled them in seven (7) days in the parking lot in front of the International Builders’ Show in Las Vegas, Nevada as the center-piece of the Show Village.
We have permitted and built many homes in the strict California Coastal Commission zone, and we are a preferred distributor for the State of California based on our performance on public works projects in the fire-rebuild zones. We have sold homes from many of the available production facilities in California and have played a large part in the growth of the modular home industry in California over the last decade.
We enjoy a challenge and like to get involved in complicated projects that require a lot of planning, but our passion is delivering economical and simple construction solutions that help real people living in the real economy get into their dream home with minimal headaches and without breaking their budget.
Our staff members hold a certification from the Modular Housing Training Institute, an industry training and certification program that sets a best-practice benchmark for the building and setting of modular homes. We understand the market and have licensed loan brokers, real estate agents, appraisers, and a Registered Building Designer on our team. Our staff members are primarily focused on the planning and permitting phase through ordering, delivery, and service coordination of modular homes, but we cross-train to ensure a fundamental understanding of all phases of modular construction and the building industry. We go to the major building industry trade shows and our staff periodically completes new building code (IBC) review classes.
Which Green Building Programs can your homes qualify for?
Our homes will qualify for many categories of points under all of the recognized green building programs. We can work with whichever program our clients are interested in using, or any program required by the local building department. We recommend the Green Point Rating program from Build it Green for single-family residences. For multi-family and commercial projects, we recommend the appropriate LEED program by the US Green Building Council, of which we are a member in good standing. Learn more in this video series about Cutting Edge’s Green Modular Construction.